Among global public health advocates, there is a growing concern that President Trump may cut back, or even eliminate, programs that have played a critical role in fighting diseases worldwide. While every administration should strongly review our nation’s overseas commitments, and there are undoubtedly programs that we should cut, I hope he recognizes the success and importance of one in particular: the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

I have been treating patients in Africa and Haiti for 20 years. When I was Senate majority leader in 2003, I led the Senate’s passage of the plan, called Pepfar, on an overwhelming voice vote. It has since been reauthorized twice. President Trump, like his predecessors, will have the chance to put his own stamp on this winning program.